building a DIY tube bender

[blazinchuck]

I bought these plans a year or 2 back and lost them. well, i found the plans yesterday...so im building my own tubing bender from gottrikes.com the plans look great! stay tune...pics to follow(im not building the air/hydraulic-just a manual hydraulic)

[JayT]

hot... I've been wanting to try that same set of plans! can't wait to hear the verdict!

[abunchofidiots]

What are you using to drill the holes in the arms? It would be interesting to see what this cost you in materials.

One from Tube Tek is under $500 shipped with a die.

[broncosbybart]

looks like a nice setup. just to tempt you, protools had a 299 deal going on, plus die, IIRC not sure if it is still going. i have their 105 series bender. you have probably thought of this already, but you would want to make the stand higher so that you won't have to be squatted down to use the hydraulic jack. it would be much nicer at waist level.

[SC74]

Keith and I started with Pro Tools economy package too, but it snow balled quickly. After adding the degree ring, more dies, air over hydro, and a few other goodies we've got an investment. But... as most other tools, it is very nice to have when you need it and has done a great job for us.

[anthonysmilsurp]

good now you can bend me up a cage!

[broncosbybart]

Keith and I started with Pro Tools economy package too, but it snow balled quickly. After adding the degree ring, more dies, air over hydro, and a few other goodies we've got an investment. But... as most other tools, it is very nice to have when you need it and has done a great job for us.

yep, i am in the same boat. now have 3 dies, and an air over hydro that doesn't have as much stroke as i'd like... nothing is cheap.

[scbronco]

i built that bender, its the gottrikes.com plan. i went air over hydro on mine, and it works great. im super glad i went the DIY route as opposed to buying a high dollar brand name unit. i do need some more dies though, and that is pretty much limited to pro-tools peices... but for under 300 bucks i cant complain at all...

[blazinchuck]

yeah, i still have to get the dies and ram, plus cut and drill the flat bars for it. kinda put it on the back burner for now

[scbronco]

man, if you dont have a mill, i cant stress enough how much happier you will be to just have a machine shop mill those holes for you... i got them just a little bit off, and it made everything go together real difficult. i had to go get them machined in new peices after the fact... just FYI...